


With no expectations

by APairOfWeirdos



Category: Merlin - Fandom, Merthur - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-30 02:32:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5147021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/APairOfWeirdos/pseuds/APairOfWeirdos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin Emrys works at his Uncle Gaius’s bookshop in the small town of Avalon. It’s an old shop, which contains even older books, but that’s what Merlin loves most about it. Arthur Pendragon is the Prince of Wales who has been featured negatively in the press a few too many times. Uther Pendragon, unimpressed with his son’s actions, sends him to work at an old friend’s shop to learn the value of hard work and to, hopefully, pick up a few life lessons along the way. Not willing to risk his father’s anger by refusing, Arthur agrees to the arrangement and, before he knows it, he’s packed into a car and sent on his way. He’s got it all planned out, stay for a few weeks, act like he’s learnt something and leave. It’s fool proof. But that’s when Arthur meets Merlin, and he ends up staying a little longer than he originally anticipated.</p><p>Link to my original post of idea -----> http://kimjjong.co.vu/post/75294083814/merthur-au-merlin-emrys-works-at-his-uncle</p>
            </blockquote>





	With no expectations

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I've had in my head for a long time and I've finally mustered the courage to give it a go. I've got no betas to test this on (pls say if you'd like to be, I'd need the help). This is my test chapter, to see if people would be interested, the subsequent chapters will be much longer than this one. I literally did this in a few hours while procrastinating my university essays, which brings me to add that if people do want more of this then I'll probably do most of it next week as I have a week off. However if I don't it will come in spurts but will definitely be finished by christmas (she said with her fingers crossed). Anyway, hope you enjoy this taster of a chapter :).

 

with no expectations 

 

 

 

Chapter 1 - Merlin. 

 

 

It was always his job to open early. Not that he minded it much. Merlin loved being alone in the old bookshop, it seemed almost magical to him. He loved the old book smell, the way the books felt and they always seemed to be getting new ones, which he loved to flick through before restocking the shelves - and the early morning start gave him time to do just that. It was an old, miniature shop in the small town of Avalon, and was owned by Merlin’s uncle Gaius. He was an older man and relied mainly on Merlin to run the shop, but he was in every day, Merlin was sure that not even he loved this shop as much as Gaius.

He was running a bit later than usual, not that it mattered as he couldn’t imagine people lining up early on a Monday morning to get in. Not that the shop wasn’t popular, it was a noted tourist spot, being one of the oldest bookshops in Britain in one of the oldest towns. It was one of those places which interested any tourist. But this was a Monday morning and people were very reluctant to explore on a Monday, Merlin had found.

He walked quickly down the street, trying to keep up a fast pace whilst searching in his pockets for his keys. The keys didn’t seem to matter however when he saw the door already propped open with a box, of which he presumed were a new shipment of books. He assumed it was Gaius, which worried him slightly, of all the days he was late Gaius had decided to come earlier than expected. ‘ _Fuck_.’ he thought before stepping into the shop, hoping that Gaius wasn’t going to be too displeased by his late appearance.

          “Gaius?” He called into the seemingly empty shop, “You in here?” He stepped in, making a mental note to come back for the books later, it probably wasn’t the best idea to leave a box of valuable books out in the open. He heard a rummaging in the back and, against his better senses, hoped that it wasn’t a violent burglar. He made his way quickly to the back of the shop and peaked around the corner, spotting Gaius’ familiar red jumper between the piles of books. He knocked on the door to not startle him, which it did anyway.

          “Merlin!” Gaius turned around suddenly, “there you are.”

          “Sorry, Gaius, I overslept, my alarm didn’t….” Gaius waved his hand dismissively, which confused Merlin, he’d expected a reprimanding at the very least.

          “No matter Merlin, you’re not too late. We’ve got a lot to get through today, I’m expecting a few important guests,” he stressed the word important to suggest to Merlin that these guests were not just your typical important, “today so I expect you to be on your best behaviour. Unfortunately we must have a thorough clean-up for the best possible impression, so you cannot take time looking through the new books.” Merlin nodded along, reminding himself to make note of the books to look through them at a later date. The shop was in good condition normally, a bit of dusting here and there never went amiss, old books collect dust after all. These people must be terribly important to Gaius if it meant Merlin had to thoroughly clean. Gaius was right, it would be a busy day. Cleaning an incredibly dusty old book shop in who knows how long was a daunting prospect, especially for Merlin as he could be reading - ‘whoever these people were they better be worth it’, he thought.

            “I’ll get to it then, I’ll just get the box from the front and then I’ll start.” He rushed to the front of the shop and picked up the box which was holding the door open, it was heavier than expected which made the idea of cleaning even more boring. Just as the door was about to swing shut it was stopped by foot.

            “Oh, I’m sorry, we’re not open yet…” Merlin turned around to face the guest, smiling politely. He was looking at not one person, as he had expected, but three. Two of them were dressed in smart suits, one a very muscled man and the second smaller with mid length wavy brown hair, and the third, the one who’d stopped the door, was dressed in a very casual way. He was a very handsome man, tall with golden blond hair and a strong jaw, but from the way he held himself Merlin thought he looked like he owned the place – everything about him grated on Merlin. He rolled his eyes at Merlin; which only strengthened Merlin’s irritation.

            “Don’t you know who I am?” Merlin shook his head slowly.

          “Sorry, no. It doesn’t matter who you are either, you could be the king of England for all I care, you can come back in-” he checked his watch, “45 minutes when the shop opens, like everyone else.” He shifted the box to under his arm, and went to close the door by the handle. But was stopped again by the foot in the door. His actions infuriated Merlin, why did this guy think he had the right to enter a shop before it opened? The man raised his eyebrows and scoffed like he thought the situation was terribly amusing, looking at the two men at his sides.

          “But I might as well be, I’m the Prince after all. Arthur Pendragon.” Merlin stared at the man, he’d never been terribly interested in the royal family, he was more interested in the past than the present after all, the name he recognised however – it must have been a name mentioned by Gaius, he’d had a past in all of that, being a retired physician to the royal family after all. Even so, he had a hard time believing that a royal would be here in the shop and would come here so willingly without all the fanfare and fuss Merlin would have thought came with a royal visit. He was about to say so, too, when Gaius came quickly from the back.

          “Arthur,” he said warmly, “I wasn’t expecting you till lunch, come in, come in.” he ushered Arthur passed Merlin, who looked on even more confused than ever. Arthur walked passed him, a smirk on his face.

 **‘** _Great_ ,’ Merlin thought cursing himself slightly, ‘ _talking to him like that, he could probably have me executed._ ’ He shook his head and reminded himself that it was more than likely a fleeting visit to an old friend, he wouldn’t have to worry about working with a prick like that.


End file.
